


The Gargoyle Incident

by DownToTheSea



Series: Specular Reflection [4]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 18:18:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17492864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DownToTheSea/pseuds/DownToTheSea
Summary: After an unfortunate encounter with an abnormal, Helen and Nikola have a quiet moment to themselves while she patches him up.





	The Gargoyle Incident

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HostilePoet17](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HostilePoet17/gifts).



> A very, very happy belated birthday to HostilePoet17!!! :D I hope you like this! (And I hope it wasn't presumptuous of me to set it in this AU, haha.)

“Nikola, if you should ever find yourself embroiled in another altercation with a frightened gargoyle, please attempt to avoid its claws next time.”

“I  _ did _ ,” Nikola grumbled, and winced as Helen dabbed at the deep gash on his arm. He was sitting on a table in her father’s library, Helen with her medical case open and standing next to him, bent over his shoulder while she cleaned his wounds. Gregory was downstairs, getting the gargoyle into a safe (and contained) location.

“Not well enough, apparently,” Helen said dryly, and smoothed his hair back to look at a shallow scrape he had acquired from a collision with one of the gargoyle’s (surprisingly powerful) wings. She kept her hand there, absently stroking his hair while she examined him, and Nikola’s heart leapt at the casual tenderness of the gesture. (He was certain they had already had far more physical contact than was strictly encouraged for freshly-engaged couples, but, well, he wasn't complaining.)

“Most of your injuries appear to be fairly mild, but this arm will need stitches,” Helen said, and Nikola groaned. She smiled slightly. “Don't worry, my dear, I will endeavour to be as quick and painless as possible.”

“My dear?” Nikola had to mouth it, since his voice had stopped working as soon as Helen said “my.” And “dear” was really just overwhelming after that. Those two small words wrapped him up in such a warm glow that he barely even noticed when she began. (He knew Helen well enough by now to suspect that had been her plan.)

True to her word, Helen finished up the business as quickly as she could. Warm glow or not, Nikola was wincing by the time she was done, and she bent over to drop a light kiss to his forehead. Nikola promptly forgot that the glow had ever diminished.

“And now for your other arm,” Helen said. She lifted Nikola's hand and glared at it. “As you seemed to be under the impression that it would make a fine nesting perch.”

“I thought it would help to calm the beast down.”

“Gargoyles are not pigeons, Nikola.”

Nikola couldn't help a small pained noise as Helen rolled the tattered remnants of his sleeve up and began bathing the myriad cuts and scrapes all along his arm, wrist, and hand.

“Let this be a fitting punishment for allowing deadly creatures to roost on you,” Helen said sternly, but she gave his elbow a little caress, and her hands were very gentle as she worked.

“What else was I supposed to do? I persuaded it to come down from swooping about over our heads, didn't I? I suppose it found me irresistible.”

Helen snorted. “Stop preening, Nikola. My father isn't in the room, so you may leave off performing any and all monologues about your skill with abnormals.”

Nikola sighed. “He hates me, you know.”

“He  _ dislikes  _ you.”

He rolled his eyes.

“I do hope that you weren't putting on a show for him earlier,” Helen said with a rather piercing look. “No matter how irresistible you may or may not be to gargoyles, I happen to be quite fond of you as well. And it would – ” She paused, then continued. “I would not wish to see you harmed in some foolish attempt to impress either or both my father and myself.”

“Attempt? I can't imagine to what you are referring,” Nikola said as breezily as he could. “Being impressive comes naturally to me.”

Helen shook her head, leveling a very unimpressed look at him. “I must say, sometimes my father's opinion is quite understandable.”

Nikola gazed at her with a wounded expression. “Oh, Helen, must you be cross with me when I've been so heroically injured?”

“I’m afraid I must,” Helen said, but there was a quirk to her lips. “Now hold still, if you would like to prevent my becoming even more cross.”

She finished wrapping the last bandage around his hand and put away her medical supplies, closing her case with a snap. Then she sat next to him on the desk, shoulder nudging his comfortably.

“You really needn't go to such lengths.” There was warmth in her voice. “You are  _ my  _ fiancé, after all, and I admit that I find it quite a satisfying arrangement, regardless of what my father thinks.”

“Merely  _ satisfying? _ I’m quite insulted,” Nikola said, and was rewarded with another smile. His eyes fell to the ring she wore. Her mother’s; Nikola could not have afforded even the simplest of bands.

“Does it – ever trouble you?” he asked softly. “That I am not what anyone would have you choose?”

“Nikola,” Helen said, laughing a little. “I am not what anyone would have me be. If you ask me, we are quite well-matched. Even if you have a great deal to learn about gargoyles.” She took his bandaged hand, the one he had tried to use as a gargoyle perch, and lifted it to her lips, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to each of his fingers.

“I have made my choices,” she said quietly, “and there is not one of them that I regret.” She was holding his hand near her face, stroking it thoughtfully, and she smiled when his fingers curled in hers and brushed against her cheek.

“Helen,” he murmured. Still clasping his hand in both of hers, she rested her head on his shoulder.

They spent a few minutes in silence, leaning against each other. Nikola’s cuts were beginning to throb again, but apart from that he felt remarkably content; they were sitting in a patch of sunlight, dust motes flying about in the beam, and by some miracle Gregory had not yet disturbed them. It felt like they were in their own little world, and Nikola could have stayed there with Helen for the rest of his life.

“Now, if you truly wish to be heroic,” she said, smirking and edging a bit nearer. “Perhaps you would be so good as to offer me a kiss.”

“Only one?”

“We shall see.”

Nikola grinned, and wrapped his arms around her.


End file.
